Voice Banking

I'm keen to have your advice!

I am in the fortunate position of still being able to speak quite clearly in short bursts. I am finding conversation almost impossible because I have no volume at all, buy my pronounciation is fine. All of which means that I can still record words and phrases quite well.

Several months ago I recorded a synthetic voice on the ModelTalker web site, and the result is very useful. It sounds like a robot version of me; and although there are other voices available which are certainly much clearer, my family really like the ModelTalker voice becasue it sounds so much like (a tired, electric version of) me. I think it's a wonderful gift, and incredibly it was also free.

My speech therapist strongly advised me to add to it with a comprehensive set of recordings of my own voice. I am using Audacity free recording sorftware which allows simple editing of recorded words and sentances. I wasn't going to do this, as I couldn't decide what to record and I preferred the more spontaneous approach of using the synthetic voice. But with advice I have changed my mind, and discovered that NextUp voice software allows saved audio files to be worked in with generated voices to some extent.

What would you suggest I record? There is a link somewhere on these pages to an inventory, but I'm looking for more I think.

Do you know of any lists that might help?

Have you been down this track?

Are there words or sentances that you wish you had recorded?

Time is short! Thanks for your thoughts.........

Good Morning Everyone! Hope everyone is having a good day! Any thoughts on the DynaWrite? Yesterday my dad went to look at speech devices and is leaning towards the DynaWrite. I was wondering if any of you have used it before or like something better. Thank you in advance!

Stephanie

P.S. I don't know how to start a new thread so that's why I'm posting this here. Sorry if this is not in the right spot.

Roderick,

I would be sure to record any of your choice phrases that are used almost without thinking, along with affectionate phrases. This is great that you are able to use the ModelTalker. My husband tried, but his tongue was too far gone.

Stephanie,

I don't have any experiene with the DynaWrite.

To start a new thread, go to the front page of the forum where you want to start the thread. At the top left you will see a blue box with white letters that says "New Thread." Click on that and you will be able to create your thread. You'll get more responses that way!

Thank you brooksea

Roderick;

This is such a great idea. I am storing these away for the inevitable.

Is there a way to index these phrases to allow you to select the one you want easily? Perhaps a numbered list and a good memory is all that is needed.

I am sure that you have given this some thought. I believe that I will concentrate on the obvious physical needs first, followed by endearments and go from there.

Roderick, I am actually doing voice banking now and thier is a program etriloquist that has lots of phrases to use, so I am recording them with my voice. My voice is slow with not much pitch left and it is quiet too. Another thought is to record your converstions for a day so you can catch your personal phrases.

Best of wishes to you to get this done.

at our last appointment the speech therapist said banking hubby's voice would be a waste of time as he has dysphasia, he still speaks so i have given up trying to bank his voice now plus it was too confusing as to what to buy how to do it how to buy the best product etc etc so we have given up.

A couple relevant threads:
https://www.alsforums.com/forum/tips-tricks-gadgets/10823-suggestions-modeltalker-phrases-add.html
https://www.alsforums.com/forum/gen...ssistive-technology-clinic-voice-banking.html

Brian

Lavender Lady said:

Roderick, I am actually doing voice banking now and thier is a program etriloquist that has lots of phrases to use, so I am recording them with my voice. My voice is slow with not much pitch left and it is quiet too. Another thought is to record your converstions for a day so you can catch your personal phrases.

Best of wishes to you to get this done.

Click to expand...

Tha't is a good thought, thank you! I have Etriloquist, but I can't see the phrases you mentioned. Can you point me in the right direction?

Thanks for those links Brian, one of them I had not come accross before.

An interesting message from ModelTalker:

I contacted ModelTalker last a few days ago to ask if I could add more custom phrases to my inventory (the few hundred phrases you are asked to record with their software). Words that you record in this custom area seem to speak in a far more natural voice; however I have found that this isn't always the case. I noticed on other threads that a couple of people had expressed regret about not recording enought custom phrases. This is the response from ModelTalker:

We really only recommend no more than a handful of custom sentences. The improvement you will get from more is minimal and the cost for us processing them is high. In general, custom sentences or otherwise, the system will try to use long sections from the recorded material if they are appropriate for the context. All of it is constructed from your voice, it is just a matter of whether it is constructed from small sections or large sections.